How to Participate in a VoiceThread

“Do I have to pay to use it?”No. Commenting in a VoiceThread is free -- unless you want to make extensive use of the very cool option to leave voice comments with your telephone. Three minutes of phone comments are provided free and you can add 60 additional minutes for $10 (applied to your account). There is also a 30-minute total max on your webcam comments. All other commenting is unlimited and free. If you wish to create your own VoiceThreads with your free account (which is different from leaving comments on someone elseʼs VoiceThread), you will be limited to a max of three.

“What must I do before I leave a comment?”Before you leave your first comment, you must Register for your VoiceThread account -- it is free and takes a minute! After that, each each time you return to VoiceThread, you will need your email address and password to sign into your VoiceThread account before you leave a comment.

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How to Register for your free account.There are two ways you can create your account.

1. If you are viewing a VoiceThread already, simply click on the "Sign in or Register" button at the bottom left of your screen. It looks like this:

2. Or you can register on VoiceThread's website:

Go to http://www.voicethread.comClick on “Sign In or Register”

Click on Register to create a new account."

“What is VoiceThread?”VoiceThread is a web-based, interactive, communication tool that allows groups of people to leave comments at different times around images and videos. Commenting in a VoiceThread is a unique experience because you have options! When you participate in a VoiceThread conversation, you may choose to type your comment in text, record your voice using your computer's microphone or your telephone, or record a video comment with your webcam!

How to Participate in a VoiceThread

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Click on any avatar to read

or hear the comment.

Click here to sign in to your account or register for

a new account.

After youʼve logged in and youʼre ready to comment,

click here to reveal the Comment Options Panel.

Click here to play or pause.

Click here to go to the next slide in

the VoiceThread.

A First LookBelow is an illustration showing one slide of a VoiceThread. You can tell there are more slides to view because there is an arrow icon in the lower right corner. Five different people have already commented on this slide (count the avatars that line the left and right side of the slide). But there are six comments that have been made on this slide (count the number of segments in the gray bar beneath the slide) -- so one person has left two comments. You can listen to/read the comments by clicking the play button (center arrow), clicking on each avatar or clicking on the gray segments beneath the image.

When you are ready to leave a comment, you need to 1) Sign In or Register and 2) click the Comment button (if there is no comment button, the creator has elected

"Segment bar" that illustrates the total number of comments on the

slide. You can click on each "segment" to play the individual

comments.

How to Participate in a VoiceThread

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Record an voice

comment with your

telephone.

Record a video

comment with your web cam.

Record a voice

comment with a

microphone.

Type a comment.

Upload a pre-recorded audio comment (not available with

free accounts).

Click here to go to the next

slide.

How to Leave Your First Comment After you have clicked on the “Comment” button, the Comment Options Panel is revealed (see illustration below). As you can see, VoiceThread provides plenty of commenting options. All you need to do is listen to or read the comments left by others (if any) and then think about what you want to contribute to the conversation, analysis or activity. Be sure to review the instructions and guidelines the VoiceThread creator has provided. Keep in mind is the fact that you can delete any comment after youʼve made it, so donʼt feel anxious.

To make your comment, click on the appropriate icon for the type of comment you wish to contribute (see image below for explanation), leave your comment, preview it, CLICK SAVE and then youʼll see your avatar appear on the slide, with any other avatars of users who have commented previously. If you want to delete your comment at any time, just play it back and click on the garbage can icon that appears in your comment box. Only YOU (and the author/editors of the VoiceThread) can delete YOUR comments. Thatʼs it!

More Tips!How to purchase additional phone commenting minutes.

A free VoiceThread account comes with 3 free minutes of phone commenting. If you want to add additional minutes to your account, just click on the arrow next to your avatar, select “My Account," locate the "Phone Comments" row, and click on "Add Minutes." You may purchase one hour of phone comments for $10.

How to change your name, email or password for your account.Click on the arrow next to your avatar, then click on “My Account,” and then click on the "Change" button next to the appropriate item.

How to save a VoiceThread and return to it later.When the VoiceThread is open, click on the small "gear" icon in the upper left corner. Then select "Subscribe." After you subscribe to a VoiceThread, it can be accessed through your "My Voice" tab in the future. To "unsubscribe," follow the same steps. If you don't see an option to "subscribe," the creator has disabled this setting.

How to get more help. VoiceThread is easy to use but in case you need some extra help or want to figure out how to use some of the more advanced features, you can rely upon the wonderful help resources built into the site.

Click on the "My Voice" tab to view help tutorials that are automatically shared with you when you create your account.Click on "Support" at the top of the page to access:

• How To: step-by-step answers to commonly asked questions• Manuals: Pretty printable documents to guide you as you work.• Forum: A place to discuss VoiceThread with other passionate users.• Contact: Reach out to VoiceThread and share your feedback.

How to Participate in a VoiceThread

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Attribution: Michelle Pacansky-Brock

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.